texas

i have never driven that road through texas before
it whisper off the map
like someone quiet in my ear
she is chewing on her fingernails
and looks at me across the table
she could be stirring coffee or scotch
with that small red straw
i think about the last time i saw you
we were sitting in the movie theater
many minutes after the credits
i was trying to tell you how i was leaving
where i was going
why
but you just looked at me
if you bite the end off these twizzlers
you can use them as a straw like with lemonade
are the words that come from you
and i agree with you although i havent heard a word
it seems like twizzlers are not what should be said
it seems like i should be able to force
something more out of you

i have never driven that road through texas before
and i think that there may never be a time again
once flying over the rocky mountains
i saw long thin roads in the middle of nowhere
leading to nowhere
but red dirt and hard rock
and you laughed
when i said that's where i wanted to be
we are going to las vegas you reminded me
vegas

i have never driven that road through texas
even through the powdery clay and melting tires
are something i've know from before
something from a childhood
of torn jeans bare feet and asphalt
until we moved to that house
where the driveway was stuff called conglomerate
and hard bits of rock and shell could
slice your feet and force shoes

so i look back at you again
as you grow smaller and smaller in the distance
and i think it doesn't have to be this way
that before scotch and conglomerate and straws
there was a space
where you didn't have to be told
where it was just understood that

sometimes there are places
        you want to get out of and

sometimes you are stolen
        from those places you want to stay